Our Verdict

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Against

This is it, the more relevant take on Nvidia's latest GPU, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 470.

Representing the more affordable side of the Graphics Fermi 100 (GF100) GPU, the GTX 470 is being lined up to take out AMD's single-GPU hero, the HD 5870.

Zotac was the first company to thrust the slab of warmed silicon into our sweaty grasp, so here's their take on the great green hope.

When the Nvidia GTX 480 first rocked up last month you could colour us impressed. In terms of single-GPU performance it's the fastest thing on two power connectors, blowing AMD's HD 5870 out of the water with a clear lead in the benchmark tables.

That said, it's retailing for nigh-on £200 more than AMD's competing card and so should be delivering such a lead over its rivals. Unfortunately for Nvidia, it couldn't garner a lead over the pricier still AMD Radeon HD 5970, AMD's twin-GPU monster.

In both price and performance terms then it stands alone in between the competition's cards, forging a quite lonely furrow. The superior AMD Radeon HD 5970 is nearly £100 more and the weaker AMD Radeon HD 5870 is getting on for £200 cheaper. What Nvidia need then is to bring in a card that can directly compete with at least one of AMD's cards. And so the Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 is born.

So we want to know how these blazing boards perform and we're sure you do too. So without further speculation let's get down to the facts about NVIDIA's great green hope, the GTX 470.